I think what he is trying to say is that BDSM will get mainstreamed and prove to be more harmful than good. Personally I don't think it will have any effect but hell if this book is causing this much of an unnecessary uproar who knows right?

There are enough abusive relationships out there already. In the worst of cases, we're going to see abuse with a theme. (Though I took a peek at the end of the trilogy, and the schmaltz almost sent me into a coma.)

As for the internet, BDSM sites are so chock-full of trolls and wannabes that the prospect of an influx of freshly minted ones of the same simply makes me feel they deserve one another.

This. We also have the added benefit of being able to choose who we roleplay and associate with here on Elliquiy. I doubt I'm going to be writing with a "BDSM is only this way, like the goddess James said!" individual any time soon so it'll hardly be made miserable for me.

Not considering the lengthy waiting list. They'd lose patience (or be blown away by the fact that you use actual nouns to describe things, and not vague adverbs)

I fail to see how a misrepresentation of BDSM over a bunch of books is going to make things miserable for 'us' - I suppose that's the population of E (a large part of whom don't engage in BDSM, incidentally).

I don't have anything else to add.

I see the book for the literature fail that it is, but if other folks enjoy, more power to them. If it brings more boys to our yard, great. If it doesn't, that's fine too.

Really, who cares? And why would anyone spend a second of their day worrying amidst prophecies of "The end is nigh!"

Sadly, I did not become immune to the bad writing. I had to stop reading it because the writing was killing me and that was even with me trying to look at it as a comedy. I just couldn't make myself read anymore.

As it has been pointed out multiple times on this thread, the book is in first person. That person portrays a straight, struggling to understand a dominant. Though, poorly written, I believe Ms. James is doing an adequate job of portraying a straight trying to comprehend the lifestyle. Agreed that the bdsm, d/s lifestyle is being misrepresented, but what do expect from someone that likely has never experienced the lifestyle. Until I found E, I myself would probably think that those in the bdsm, d/s lifestyle were broken and environments made them that way rather than a conscious choice. I have been educated on the lifestyle and even attempted to write a Dom character. I don't pass judgement on the community, and challenge those in the community to put themselves forward and write something from a bdsm, d/s perspective. Obviously ability to write is not a factor as long as you have a semi-plausible story and a lot of hype. I am certain that the E community has enough moxie to rally support and creat as much hype.

As it has been pointed out multiple times on this thread, the book is in first person. That person portrays a straight, struggling to understand a dominant. Though, poorly written, I believe Ms. James is doing an adequate job of portraying a straight trying to comprehend the lifestyle.

Just FYI, I think the word you are looking for here is "vanilla" not straight.

This whole discussion just makes me want to introduce people who are getting their first taste of "the scene" through these books to Shiniez's gallery. Whether its approach to BDSM is terribly accurate I'd have no idea, but it is at least 1) creative and 2) demonstrates more human, healthy, normal (for lack of a better word) relationships between its characters than what appears to be the case in FSoG.

Huhn, Lesbians and bondage. He's clearly playing it 'safe' with the BDSM themes, Shiniez is...

Even safer than that, really, given they're all bisexual rather than lesbians. Alan and Ally - the main dominant characters - played around with each other a lot throughout college, Lisa had boyfriends before, Anne gets involved with Ally first and goes over to Alan later...

Main reason BDSM with Lesbians as the only ones doing the activities is because of an old ruling, where men weren't allowed to be seen dominating female subs. Although I believe that's been changed, the courts and the various lawmakers are still uncomfortable about it.

And the fact that it's a cartoon doesn't stop some countries to charge people for owning/reading about it. It's gotten pretty stupid and silly.

But having lesbians go about it is a-OK! Sometimes the inherent hypocrisy of society is really irritating...

"Jumping on the Fifty Shades of Grey bandwagon, along with the rest of UK publishing, the small press is about to launch erotic rewrites of classic titles including Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre and A Study in Scarlet."

"Jumping on the Fifty Shades of Grey bandwagon, along with the rest of UK publishing, the small press is about to launch erotic rewrites of classic titles including Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre and A Study in Scarlet."

Wait, what? A Study in Scarlet? Really?

"Let us see what we have here..." Holmes said cordially, gripping my rod with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive."

"How on earth did you know that?" I asked in astonishment. "You were told, no doubt."

"Nothing of the sort, dear Doctor. I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps. I have a kind of intuition that way, which facilitates matters wonderfully. But sometimes a subject requires the, ah, fullness of my attention… then I have to see things with my own eyes. “

He paused to shove his hands into the bath robe.

“Come along, Doctor. And take off your trousers. I shall demonstrate that it is all quite elementary.”

"Jumping on the Fifty Shades of Grey bandwagon, along with the rest of UK publishing, the small press is about to launch erotic rewrites of classic titles including Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre and A Study in Scarlet."